The fate of the nursing staff sparked heated arguments in the National Assembly on Thursday. It must be said that more than 5,000 nurses are affected by the internal reform of the CIUSSS de la Mauricie et du Center-du-Québec (CIUSSS MCQ), or almost a quarter of the health network staff.
The political contest in the Blue Hall failed to calm the growing concern of the workforce. The region would indeed be a test region. The official opposition is convinced of this. Health Minister Christian Dubé intends to export it to other regions.
“The pilot project Mauricie Centre-du-Québec, he will take it over and send it to all regions,” announced Liberal MP and health spokesman André Fortin.
Minister Dubé supports the regional CEO, Nathalie Petitclerc. He reiterates that it was necessary to end mandatory overtime hours (TSO) and avoid business disruptions in critical sectors.
“The solution she brought to the table avoids service outages, because these merged areas are important. Congratulations to our CEOs who have a flair for finding solutions to an exceptional situation,” he replied.
Early Thursday morning, the nurses’ file raised the tone during Question Time.
“Hundreds of them are thinking about quitting right now. And it is you who are pushing them in this direction. The shortage of nurses is everywhere in Quebec and there is only Mauricie and Center-du-Québec who have to make people work weekends to force them to work weekends. The minister tells us that it would be okay to export this situation anywhere in Quebec,” said André Fortin.
The health minister replied: “Are we going to force the 80% of people who already work inconvenient hours to do OSI, or can we go other ways? […] We will come up with a plan in the coming weeks that will require everyone to do their part and explore a different way of delivering our healthcare services.
The President of the Order reassured
The President of the Order of Quebec Nurses invited the CIUSSS MCQ to open a dialogue with its collaborators. Luc Mathieu learned at his Wednesday meeting with the nursing department that not all activity centers will be affected by the staff movement.
“We are reassured but we remain concerned about this type of operation. This shouldn’t be used regularly elsewhere…because it wouldn’t recognize nurses’ expertise,” he added.
The issue of training has been discussed and looking is also being made at areas that require reinforcement.
The CIUSSS MCQ tells us that of the 500 nurses in Drummondville, only 15% are transferred to sectors related to their specialty. This coming weekend, the mandatory weekend measure applies to the entire Drummondville area.
The president of the union and the nurses were present at the national assembly on Thursday.
Nurses also rejected 94% of the employer merger rule in a general meeting. A strike is now being considered.